


Study Buddies

by Lady Sarai (lady_sarai)



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Gen, Teen Titans v.1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-03-19
Updated: 2007-03-19
Packaged: 2017-10-05 08:21:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_sarai/pseuds/Lady%20Sarai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roy and Donna fight, and Dick does damage control.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Study Buddies

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies to Dickens and Shakespeare. I read those my freshman year of high school, if that helps timeline-wise.

Dick didn't exactly enjoy being on watch duty on a Friday night, but sitting in the control room at least gave him a quiet place to do the assigned reading for English. It also meant he didn't have to overhear what was looking like a pretty intense fight between Donna and Roy.

He might not actually have done much reading, but when it came to lovers' spats, Pip and Estella had nothing on Roy and Donna.

The fact that Pip and Estella weren't actually lovers was completely beside the point.

The point was that Dick had damage control to do, and he wasn't sure which of his friends was going to need it more. He wished again that Wally and Garth—hell, at least one of them—had been able to come this weekend.

Reading the same sentence for the umpteenth time and _still_ not comprehending it, Dick glanced up at the monitors in time to see Donna and Roy storming off in opposite directions. They surprised him; Roy was headed for his room, and Donna looked like she was going to the kitchen. Usually at least _one_ of them went to beat the shit out of some equipment in the training rooms after a fight.

In frustration, Dick threw _Great Expectations_ into the air and decided that the kitchen was on the way to Roy's room. He caught the book only because while he doubted Dickens would mind, he _knew_ Alfred would never forgive him for treating a book that way.

Dick made his way to the kitchen, where he stopped and leaned against the door. He didn't say anything, but watched Donna open and shut drawers, muttering angrily to herself. After about half a minute, she slammed a drawer and turned to glare at him, hands on her hips. "_Why_ are there no clean spoons in this place?!"

Dick blinked. Not exactly the outburst he'd been expecting. "Uh…"

Donna threw her hands in the air and returned to her search of the cupboards. "Never mind. I don't know why I—" She stopped and gripped the countertop with one hand, pinching the bridge of her nose with the other.

Dick took a step into the kitchen and reached a hand toward her. "Donna…"

She shook her head at him and took a breath. She moved her hand from her face and waved it dismissively at him. "I'm fine. I guess you saw all that?"

Dick shrugged a shoulder and crossed the room to rest his hand on her shoulder. "I didn't hear any of it."

Donna turned and hugged him, resting her temple against his. "He's so _stubborn,_ Dick," she said. "I'm so _mad_ at him right now, but I'm worried, too. Something's wrong, and he won't talk about it."

"Donna, it's Roy. I'm sure he's fine, it's just…" Dick trailed off, shrugging and feeling uncomfortable. "Nothing's _wrong._ It's _Roy_."

Donna pulled back and smacked his shoulder lightly. "Go talk to him," she ordered. "I'm too angry to deal with him right now, but _something_ is wrong, and you need to go fix it."

Dick rolled his eyes and saluted her mockingly. "Yes, ma'am." He pulled her in for another quick hug and turned to leave, stopping to say, "Whatever he said, you know he didn't mean it."

"I know," Donna said, pulling a cereal box out of a cabinet. "But I'm angry and I plan on _staying_ angry for a few hours."

Dick nodded and asked, "You okay?"

Donna huffed and waved a hand at him. "I'm _fine_. Get out of here."

Dick left the kitchen and turned toward the bedrooms. He shoved aside the nagging worry Donna had planted; there was nothing wrong with Roy, aside from the usual shit he dealt with at home.

Dick knocked on Roy's door, calling out, "Roy, it's me. Open up."

He was met with a long silence, and just as he raised his hand to knock again, the door opened. Roy leaned against it, arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face. "Well?" he demanded. "What do you want? You wanna yell at me for being an ass, too? Donna send you to finish what she started before she ran off to cry about what an insensitive jerk I am?"

And, shit. Apparently he should have come after Roy first. "You really think you made _Donna_ cry? She's tearing apart the kitchen in her search for a rusty spoon to castrate you with."

Roy rolled his eyes and slammed the door, but Dick shoved his way past him before the door could shut. They looked at one another for a long moment before Roy grunted and stalked past Dick to throw himself onto his bed. Dick watched him, and neither spoke for several minutes.

This was… unexpected. Dick wasn't sure what to do; he hadn't had a plan, but he'd expected yelling and maybe a fight. He didn't know what to do with this cold, silent anger. He considered provoking Roy, but instead wandered over to his desk, where his schoolbag rested. He reached for the zipper.

"What are you _doing_?"

Dick opened the bag and rummaged through it, shrugging. "You have a lot of homework this weekend? I've got four chapters of _Gre_—"

"You didn't come in here to talk about _school_," Roy accused bitingly.

Dick pulled out a copy of _Romeo and Juliet_ and turned, waving it in Roy's direction. "Aha! Shakespeare, huh? We read this last month."

Roy pushed himself up on an elbow and made a face. "Good for you. Leave my shit alone."

Dick took the book with him when he crossed the room and jumped onto Roy's bed. He ignored Roy's muttered curses and flopped over to lie on his back, forcing Roy to move up against the wall. He opened the play at random and read aloud, "_'They fight. Paris falls.'_ Ugh," he said, making a face. "You know, this play isn't romantic at all; it's depressing, and Romeo is an idiot."

Roy snatched the book from him and sat up. "What do you _want_, Dick?"

Dick didn't answer, but nudged Roy's ankle with his foot. He wondered why Roy was so tense and confrontational, and he wasn't sure what to do about it. When Roy looked back at him, he said, "What's going on, Roy?"

Roy's eyes narrowed and he looked away again. Dick sighed, and reached out, putting his hand on Roy's back. "Okay, we won't talk about it," he said. He balled Roy's shirt in his fist and yanked. "Just stop being an ass and lie down, would you?"

Roy resisted the first few tugs, but finally dropped back onto the mattress to lie stiffly next to Dick. He shifted closer to the wall, and Dick briefly considered moving to close the inch of space between them but didn't. Instead, he grabbed Shakespeare back from Roy and opened it again, this time to the prologue. "_'Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene...'_" he began. He read the entire prologue and then asked, "So, what's the assignment for the weekend?"

Roy muttered, "Act Three."

Dick flipped to the right page and read, "_'Act Three, Scene one. A public place. Enter Mercutio, Benvolio, Page and servants…'_" Holding the book up with one hand, he let his left arm drop to the mattress between him and Roy. He didn't close the space between them, but he kept reading.

He read through the first two scenes before Roy's hand brushed the back of his. He could feel Roy watching him, but he didn't stop reading until Roy grabbed his hand and interrupted him. "Dick."

Dick let the book fall onto his chest and turned his head to look at Roy.

Roy swallowed and his voice had a desperate edge to it when he spoke. "I didn't—I don't mean to…"

Dick squeezed his hand. "I know. Donna knows."

Roy shut his eyes and turned his head back to the ceiling, his jaw tight. He didn't let go of Dick's hand or loosen his grip. "Everything kind of sucks right now."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Dick hesitated before asking, "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," Roy answered, almost apologetic. He met Dick's gaze and looked… young. A little scared.

Dick debated pushing the issue, but he found he couldn't. "Okay," he said.

Roy smiled his thanks and rolled his head back again. Dick stared at Roy's profile for a minute before turning to watch the ceiling with him. "It's gonna be okay, Roy."

Roy sighed. "Maybe."

Dick gripped Roy's hand harder. "It _will._ You've got us."

"Yeah?"

The uncertainty in Roy's tone made Dick want to shake him. "_Yes._"

Neither of them spoke immediately, and then Roy's knee brushed Dick's and he said, "So Romeo's banished now?"

Dick picked the book back up, nodding as he read, "_'Hence from Verona art thou banished: / Be patient, for the world is broad and wide...'_"

**Author's Note:**

> Giving credit where it is due, all quotations belong to William Shakespeare, and every literature professor I've ever had is screaming in my head to properly cite those quotations but I don't have the line numbers handy.


End file.
